Canada's Bloody Mary: The Bloody Caesar

Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian family and the many Kitchen Parade readers from all across Canada!

Americans looking for an quick and fun (and easy!) way to toast our good neighbors to the north might consider a Canadian cocktail called a "Bloody Caesar." It's Canada's own Bloody Mary and uses "Clamato" instead of tomato juice, here's my recipe!

“MyFace and Spacebook,” said the grandmother-looking woman with a shake of her gray head. “I just don’t get it, why do you people have your faces in your telephones all the time?”

Why, indeed, is the question. The answer is, there’s a certain addiction to being “connected” all day, all the time, often shutting out the ones within touching distance. It’s so easy to get sucked down the rabbit hole that is social media!

But here’s what keeps me on Facebook: staying in touch with my cousins and getting to know their children.

Last summer, I posted a photo on Facebook of a Bloody Mary ordered for a lively Monday-morning breakfast while on vacation.

Within minutes, my Canadian cousin’s son Braden Dean, who was maybe 8 or 10 years old when I last saw him and is now, get this, a professional snowboarder, chimed in. “Hey! Try a Bloody Caesar, they’re much better!”

A what, a Bloody Caesar? Thank you, Google, the answer was a click or two away (on my phone, naturally). A Bloody Caesar is Canada’s Bloody Mary, made not with plain tomato juice but Clamato, a tomato juice laced with clam juice.

I waited to try a Bloody Caesar until my sister and I visited our dad in northern Minnesota a few weeks later. One warm, mosquito-less evening before supper, we all sat on the porch overlooking the river onto Ontario. (Yes, that’s right, my dad’s home sits on the Rainy River, across the river is Ontario!)

My sister made a snack tray (our favorite is pickled herring on Ritz crackers, so retro!) and I mixed the cocktails.

So cheers to Facebook! And most of all, cheers to connections with family and friends that wouldn’t exist without social media – and for creating in-the-moment occasions in the real world.

CANADA’s BLOODY MARY:
THE BLOODY CAESAR

Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Time to table: 15 minutes

SPICE MIX

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon celery salt

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon (or less, to taste) cayenne pepper

For One BLOODY CAESAR

1 small wedge of lime

Spice Mix

Ice

1 shot vodka

1/2 cup (or more as needed) Clamato Tomato Cocktail

1 tablespoon Worcestershire

1 – 3 drops Tabasco

1/4 teaspoon horseradish

1 rib celery

SPICE MIX Combine spices on a small plate slightly larger than the glass. Spread the mix out about the size of the glass.

BLOOD CAESAR Rub the rim of the glass with the wedge of lime. Dip the wet edge in the spice mix, coating just the rim.

Add the ice and vodka, then almost fill the glass with Clamato. Add the Worcestershire, Tabasco and horseradish, then squeeze the wedge of lime into the cocktail. Add the celery and, well, bottoms up!

SNOW BOARDER & BASE JUMPER EXTRAORDINAIRE See photos of Braden's amazing aerial feats at BradenDean.com. I couldn't be prouder, even if his flights do give me the total heebie-jeebies!

Prefer a virgin Bloody Caesar? Just leave out the vodka!

Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. Follow Kitchen Parade on Facebook!

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Alanna,Lovely FriendFace story--and I so agree. I've been into margaritas lately, but reading this and seeing the photo now kinda has me wanting to go get some Clamato.You've got me craving pickled herring now, too, though I've never had it on a Ritz.Thanks!

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. But I also love hearing your reactions, your curiosity, even your concerns! When you've made a recipe, I especially love to know how it turned out, what variations you made, what you'll do differently the next time. ~ Alanna